something you wouldn't like
by evokingmemories
Summary: but perhaps the truth of the sentiment is too much - too heavy for either of the sisters to bear in this particular moment. the eagle flies off, and nova is left alone with the quiet and her boiling blood.


somewhere in between the two hundred years she spends running, hoping, and chasing after an impossible dream, nova finds a moment of quiet.

don't be mistaken - she is always running hot. her blood is boiling and that doesn't stop. not for a split second of peace, not for _anything_.

but even as it hides out in the back of her mind, in the corner of her vision, there must be something like… _respite_ , hanging in the air as she collapses onto the cliff's edge. she's within a world an impossible distance from her own, a world that's hot and sticky and thriving with all sorts of greenery. she's been stomping through the jungle all day, searching for the gap that will take her onto the next world.

 _the next world_ , nova says in her mind. _the next battle, the next fight, the next struggle._

it's exhausting. it's horrific.

it's all she has.

and gods, sometimes she just gets _tired_.

but no - tired isn't the right word, is it? what she feels goes deeper than mere fatigue. it's like a dark, corrosive ache that lives in her bones, weighing her down even as she goes on and on and on.

she's almost always able to push it away, focus on her goal, focus on the only thing that matters - _finding kora._

almost.

because yes, nova is a force. she knows that. the seraphim, the mesarthium, every creature in this universe - they are _nothing_ compared to her. they should all fear her, all tremble at the mention of her name. she's catastrophic and she is the epitome of power.

but she's also _human._ she doesn't look it, with her blue skin, with the circlet resting in her golden hair. she looks like a goddess - a dark angel of vengeance, driven up from hell.

but she is. she's human and sometimes, the exhaustive ache is overwhelming.

so she sits herself down on the cliff's edge on this strange world, rests her hands on the soft greenery and stares out at the valley below.

her feet dangle. they hang in the air and she swings them carelessly, like a child might.

she lets out a very deep, very long breath. feels the ache spread from her bones to her skin, feels sweat break out across her brow. her heart races and it's a strange contrast to the peace of the world around her, this panic that guts her.

she squeezes her eyes shut, lets the feeling pass through her. she's tried to fight it before, but it's never worked. the only thing she can do is _feel_ it, no matter how weak that may make her.

seconds pass, and - _wait_. there's a noise, and it sounds like…

…like _wings_.

nova knows that sound. she knows it all too well.

her eyes snap open and she's gazing out at the open air above the valley, and yes - it's her.

kora's eagle.

always leading her. guiding her on her mission, never letting her forget her purpose.

 _kora kora kora kora._

 _find her find her find her find her_

 _save her save her save her save her_

the eagle, so large and graceful and beautiful, comes to a stop, hovering in front of her. nova gazes into the other eyes of her sister, of her other half, and the panic - so strong and impossible and terrifying - simply melts away.

but there's something about the bird that seems… _off_ this time. different. as if something's changed.

"has something happened, kora?" nova asks, gentle and soft and, although she'd never admit it, scared. "you look…"

 _sad._ that's really the only way to describe the look in the eagle's eyes. they are dark and knowing and drowning in sorrow.

 _i know something you don't_ , they seem to whisper, and in the moment nova wishes more than ever that she could communicate with her sister's astral. _something you wouldn't like_.

but perhaps the truth of the sentiment is too much - too heavy for either of the sisters to bear in this particular moment. the eagle flies off, and nova is left alone with the quiet and her boiling blood.

left with her purpose renewed. because no matter what lies in the eagle's eyes, nova's mission is unchanged.

she _will_ find kora. it's all she knows.

it's all she has.


End file.
